Co-ops, retirement villages benefit from homeowners exemptions

ByActon H. Gorton/CU-CitizenAccess.org |July 9, 2015

Winfield Village on July 8, 2015. This retirement community received more than $2 million in the homestead exemption for tax year 2014.

Landlords of single properties are not the only ones getting tax breaks under the General Homestead Exemption.

Companies that own cooperative apartments or retirement life-care communities also can get multiple exemptions under state law.

Twelve companies in Champaign County received about $3.7 million in homestead exemptions last year by reporting each housing unit as an individual property, according to a review of property records.

The companies include Chanute Retirement Village located in Rantoul, which qualified for $414,000 in homestead exemptions. Although the properties were assessed at nearly $684,000, no taxes were paid in 2014 after combining additional exemptions, according to the review of property records.

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Similarly, Winfield Village Cooperative located in Savoy significantly reduced their tax burden for their east and west side apartments by claiming almost $2.1 million in homestead exemptions on its $3.6 million assessed value. They paid about $111,000 in taxes.

Officials at Winfield Village Cooperative and Prairie Village Retirement Community, operating under Chanute Retirement Village, could not be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for Clark Lindsey, which claimed $780,000 in the homestead exemption, said the savings is passed on to the residents.

“Our residents pay an up-front fee to live here and all of the refund goes to the residents,” said Karen Blatzer, director of marketing for Clark Lindsey. “Clark Lindsey is a non-profit built in 1978 and has paid real estate taxes each year. We’re happy to support the community.”

In addition, 10 other cooperatives and retirement villages received exemptions, including:

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